


National Garbage Man Day

by Skeeter_110



Series: Another June Day [17]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Accidental Wing-man Peter Parker, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Garbage man Steve Rogers, Gen, Irondad, Kid Peter Parker, M/M, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Precious Peter Parker, That tag seems worse than it is, War Veteran Steve Rogers, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24772558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skeeter_110/pseuds/Skeeter_110
Summary: Peter Stark was always a caring child. He cared about everything; whether you were a human, animal, insect, or even an inanimate object, he just always cared about your wellbeing. So when it's lunch time and he sees the garbage man working during it, he becomes determined to fix it.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark
Series: Another June Day [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769251
Comments: 13
Kudos: 220





	National Garbage Man Day

**Author's Note:**

> June 17th is National Garbage Man Day. It's a day to honor the hard and dangerous work Garbage men and women do to clean our waste. Celebrate by thanking your local garbage men and women.

“Daddy! Daddy, look!” Peter shouts, making Tony pause in his sandwich making and walk towards the living room where his son was looking out the window.

“What’s up, Petey?” Tony asks, looking out the window to see what Peter was looking at.

“Look at the truck!” Peter says, pointing at the garbage truck that was across the street.

“Yeah, Buddy, that’s the garbage truck. They’re working right now to get rid of our garbage.” Tony explains, pushing Peter’s hair out of his face.

“They’re working right now?” Peter asks, a small pout forming over his face when Tony confirmed it. “That’s not fair! It’s lunch time right now! Why are they working instead of eating lunch?” Peter shouts.

“I don’t know, Baby, that’s just the time that they work.” Tony replies, Peter folding his arms in front of his chest.

“That’s not fair.” Peter pouts, an idea lighting up his eyes. “Daddy, can we bring them lunch since they can’t eat theirs?” Peter asks, bouncing in his seat at the idea.

“Petey, I’m sure they have their own lunch that they’ll eat when they’re not working.” Tony tries to dispute, his resolve slowly breaking down when he saw the puppy eyes Peter was giving him.

“Please, Daddy?” Tony sighed, rubbing his hands over his face.

“Okay, how about – because they might have their own lunch that they packed, or allergies – we give them some of the cookies we made last night?” Tony offers, Peter clearly liking that idea.

They quickly got some of the cookies that were laying on the counter, put them on a plate Tony didn’t care too much about, and wrapped it all in tinfoil. Tony handed Peter the plate to hold onto since it was his idea, and they set out to sit on the porch and wait.

Peter was usually a patient child, but he was also very hyper so after a while Peter would give up and want to move and do something. Tony could honestly say that _this_ was the stillest and the calmest he’s ever seen Peter.

The toddler sat on the porch step, kicking his feet back and forth and holding onto the plate with a death grip – almost as if he was afraid that one of the bird was going to swoop down and grab it out of his hands – and waited for the thirty minutes it took for the garbage truck to come back around the corner and towards their houses.

Once Peter saw the truck pulling up to their house, he booked it off of the porch to the end of the driveway. Tony quickly scrambled after his son, knowing that if he left it up to Pete, the Garbage man was going to be fairly confused on what was happening.

By the time Tony caught up to Peter, the garbage truck had stopped, and Peter was anxiously bouncing on his feet. As soon as Tony saw the Garbage man on the side of the truck, he was instantly regretting allowing Peter to do this. It was beyond awkward!

“Hi, Mister!” Peter shouts, making Tony instantly cringe. The Garbage man took it in stride though, letting out a chuckle and waving.

“Hey there, Little Guy.” The Garbage man greets with a smile.

“I’m sorry about that, we’re still learning how to greet new people politely.” Tony says, pulling Peter towards him.

“That’s fine, I knew he meant nothing by it.” The man says, grabbing the trash cans and attaching them to the truck so the trash can be dumped out of them.

“I have cookies!” Peter shouts again, this time to be heard over the noise of the truck rather than the excitement he felt.

“Well aren’t you lucky. They must be really good.” The man says, smiling as he set the trash can down and reached for the other.

“They’re for you and your friend.” Peter explains, the Garbage man’s smile being exchanged for a confused look.

“He saw that you were working during lunch time and didn’t like that you weren’t eating. Cookies were the compromise, he wanted me to make you a whole meal. I understand how weird this is, so you don’t have to take them.” Tony says, Peter looking up at him with a pout.

“Daddy, they’re for him. Don’t say that.” Peter whines, clearly affronted that Tony would even suggest for the Garbage man to not take the cookies.

“It’s fine. I-I’ve just never had someone come out to give us food before.” The Garbage man chuckles; and maybe Tony should stop calling him Garbage man in his head.

“I’m Tony.” He greets, the Garbage man taking off his glove to shake Tony’s outstretched hand.

“Steve.”

“I’m Peter!” The toddler shouts, Steve looking down at him and giving him a huge smile.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Peter.” Steve says, shaking the little boy’s hand.

“Here. They’re choco chip.” Peter says, Steve visibly melting at the toddler version of “chocolate chip”.

“They smell delicious. My friend and I will have to split them when we’re all done working, but we both appreciate it a bunch. Thank you very much.” Steve tells the toddler, making him beam with pride.

“Alright, Petey, why don’t you say goodbye. He probably has more houses he needs to go to, and you still need to eat lunch.” Tony says, lightly tapping Peter on the shoulder to get his attention.

“Bye, Mister Steve!” Peter shouts, waving as he begins to walk away.

“Bye.” Steve awkwardly waves back, Tony giving him a shrug, which made him smile as he hopped back on the side of the truck.

And thus, a tradition was born.

Since it was the summer and Peter was out of school, Tony was working from home so he could take care of him. Because of that, every time it was garbage day, Peter insisted that they made something for Steve and his co-worker.

Slowly but surely over the past month-and-a-half, it became a lot less awkward, and a lot more natural. There wasn’t much time where they could chat while Peter fed Steve, but Tony and him would strike up a casual conversation every time and as ridiculous as it sounds, Tony was starting to form a crush.

Which, if anyone asked, was ridiculous because for one, he was a grown-ass man and forming crushes just seemed juvenile, and two, he didn’t really know anything personal about Steve.

None of that stopped Peter from forming a friendship with the man, though. Peter was so fascinated by the garbage truck and what Steve had to do every day as his job, and because Peter is Peter, Steve instantly fell in love with the little boy. Which was a good thing considering how many questions Peter asks whenever he sees him.

Now, they were waiting on their porch for Steve to come around, Peter gripping a homemade card in his hands with an iron grip.

“Pete, don’t chew up your lip like that.” Tony says when he glances and sees Peter anxiously biting his lip.

“What if he says no?” Peter quietly asks, looking down at his card.

“Now, remember what we’ve talked about, Bambino. He might say no because we don’t know if he has to work or if he’s got plans. But, if he doesn’t, I’m sure he would love to come.” Tony says, not wanting to lie to Peter and guarantee that Steve would accept the invite, but he knew that there was still a chance that Steve would agree.

Tony could see Peter visibly get more nervous when they saw the garbage truck coming towards their house. Peter slowly stood up, looking towards Tony to make sure he was following right behind.

“It’s okay, Mimmo. It’s just Steve, you don’t have to be nervous around Steve.” Tony reassures, patting the small boy on the back as they made their way to the end of the driveway. Steve quickly jumped off the side of the garbage truck, waving to the pair with a wide smile.

“Hey, guys.” Steve greets, being quick to grab the first trash can so he had more time to chat.

“Hey, Steve.” Tony responds, Peter choosing to hide behind his Dad’s legs instead.

“Hey, Pete. What’s going on, Little Guy?” Steve asks, using the nickname he accidentally chose – and that accidentally stuck – when they met.

“Pete’s got a very important question to ask you, but he’s a little nervous.” Tony explains, nudging Peter forward a bit.

“What’s up, Pete?” Steve asks, crouching down to be at his level.

“I’m having a birthday. I’m turning five. My Daddy is having a party for me and I want you to come.” Peter nervously tells Steve, before remembering the invitation that was in his hand. “I made this for you.” Peter says, handing the card to Steve.

“Oh, wow! Are you sure you were the one who made this card? This looks like you bought it straight from the store!” Steve compliments making Peter giggle. “I don’t have to work that day so I would be honored to come to your birthday party.” Steve says, laughing when the little boy began jumping up and down in excitement.

“Well, Pete, we better let Steve get back to work.” Tony says, prompting Peter to give Steve a hug – Tony can’t really remember when that started – and said his goodbyes.

“We’ll see you this Saturday at eleven then.” Tony says in replacement of his goodbye.

“Wouldn’t miss it.”

* * *

“Daddy! Steve!” Peter shouts from where he was in the bounce house, instantly running out when he saw the blonde walking into the backyard.

“Hey, Little Guy. Happy birthday.” Steve says, bending down to receive the hug Peter was giving him.

“Hey, Steve, glad you could make it.” Tony greets, laughing when Peter got distracted by his friend and ran off.

“Thanks for inviting me.” Steve says, giving a small and shy smile to Tony. “Oh, I brought a gift.” Steve says, handing the bag in his hands over to Tony.

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that.” Tony tells him as they walked over to the table that held all of the gifts.

“Yeah, but I wanted to. It’s the least I can do.” Steve says, the thankful smile Tony gave him making his heart squeeze. Steve looked away towards the yard, seeing the space themed decorations everywhere.

It was a cute little party. The balloons looked like little galaxies, any, and all, decorations that could be spaceships were, and there was a NASA themed bounce house. The only thing that confused Steve was the fact that there was only one other little boy here with Peter and no adults.

“Did I come a bit early?” Steve asks, following Tony to the picnic table to sit.

“Uh, no, not really. I don’t really have family – just friends – and one is in the air force and the other two are out getting the food while I watch the kids. Pete only really has the one friend, except you’re now firmly number two on that list.” Tony says making both laugh.

“You know, when I got a job as a garbage man, the very last thing I thought would happen was me becoming friends with a five-year-old, but now that I’m here, I can’t say I hate it.” Steve chuckles.

“So, what made you choose garbage man as a career?” Tony asks, hoping the question wasn’t too personal. He just wanted to get to know the man more so he could justify the crush he had. Thankfully, Steve just let out a small laugh before answering.

“No, not exactly. I just recently got done with my last tour in Afghanistan and needed a job. It was the first one I could find and determined it was good enough. I’m actually going to college currently to get my degree in graphic design.” Steve answers.

“Wow. Thank you for your service.” Tony says. Before they could get any further into their conversation though, Peter was running over and all but dragging Steve over to the craft table they had set up.

The rest of the night went by smoothly. Pepper and Happy came back an hour after Steve got there with the pizza and cake, teasing Tony relentlessly about Steve being there while they set the table for dinner.

Tony had told them about him, just talking about how cute and friendly Peter was. Of course, they were able to sniff out the truth about Tony’s small crush on the man.

Peter was having a bunch of fun running around with Ned the whole night, even getting Steve to join in on their games. Which, seeing Steve playing wholeheartedly and without shame with Peter really did not help him quell down any feelings.

By the time the party started winding down, the cake and pizza was almost completely gone, Peter had way more toys than either of them knew what to do with, and crafts were scattered all over the yard due to an “alien invasion”.

Ned’s mother had just picked him up and taken him home, the boy being half-asleep in his mother’s arms. Peter himself and nestled tightly against Tony’s chest, his eyes dropping as he tries to fight sleep.

“Hey, Tony, I think I’m going to head out.” Steve says making Tony look up from where he was attempting to clean up some of the mess.

“Hey. Thank you again so much for coming. I know it was probably a little weird, but it really made Peter’s day.” Tony whispers, not wanting to wake up Peter, who finally let his eyes close.

“It was no problem. Peter is a really sweet kid; he deserved a good birthday.” Steve says, giving a small smile that just did something to Tony.

“And, I know this might be a little out of left-field, so feel free to deny the offer, but I was wondering if maybe you would like to go out to dinner sometime.” Tony asks, internally screaming at himself for asking at his son’s birthday party of all places.

“I would actually like that. I’m free next Saturday.” Steve replies, making Tony’s heart splutter in his chest.

“Great. I’ll see you next Saturday then.” Tony says, Steve giving another one of his famous smiles before leaning in and kissing Tony on the cheek.

“See you next Saturday.” Steve repeats before walking to the driveway to leave.

Only once Tony was sure Steve had pulled out of the driveway and was driving down the street did he allow himself to get excited and fist pump in the air. The movement jostling him, Peter let out a whine before tucking his head further under Tony’s chin.

“Sorry, Baby. Sorry.” Tony whispers, rocking Peter back and forth for a bit before going into the house to get inevitably teased by Pepper and Happy, who without a doubt watched that entire interaction.

But, it’s worth it. Because Tony Stark had a date.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this isn't as great as I wanted it to be... I'm slowly getting burned out haha


End file.
